New Broadband Technology For Rural Areas In The North

The financial support, from the £1.9 million Broadband Fund, has been awarded to two companies, H2O Ireland Limited and North West Electronics. This latest funding brings the total investments under the Fund to £639,000.

The Broadband Fund is co-financed under the European Regional Development Fund Sustainable Competitiveness Program 2007-2013. It has a specific rural focus and offers practical financial support to organisations undertaking broadband technology trials in the North or offering solutions for the delivery of high speed, reliable broadband services.

H2O Ireland Limited, based in Newry, delivers broadband services through existing waste water infrastructure. It proposes to deliver a fibre-optic ring around Enniskillen town centre using as much of the existing waste water infrastructure as is feasible. This will be the first time this technology has been used in the North and has the potential to significantly reduce the costs typically associated with laying of fibre-optic cabling.

The second applicant, North West Electronics, is a previous recipient of assistance under the Broadband Fund. It will further extend its existing fixed wireless network to offer a significant range of commercial broadband services to business and residential customers across North Antrim, including Ballintoy, Straid, Port Bradden, Dunseverick, Mossside, Lagavara and Magheracashel.

Announcing this third batch of successful projects to receive financial assistance from the Broadband Fund, the Minister said: "The £1.9 million Broadband Fund demonstrates my Department's ongoing commitment to ensuring that Northern Ireland's economy is supported by world class telecommunications services.

"The fund allows local businesses to demonstrate the range of technologies that will prove critical to enabling rural growth and providing access to commercial, educational and social services for rural domestic broadband users.

"I am particularly interested in the work that H2O Ireland plans to carry out in Enniskillen. This is an important first pilot of this nature in Northern Ireland. It demonstrates, not only, our commitment to delivery of quality services, but also to ensuring that we do so in a sustainable, responsible manner. This project will require collaboration and agreement to use existing infrastructure and I call on all those with influence to work with the company to achieve a successful outcome."